Smart companies increasingly are using "social-based" online project management tools to collaborate more effectively, improve performance, increase team satisfaction and improve bottom-line results. Companies such as Google, CentralDesktop, Basecamp, iManageProject, Microsoft (with its SharePoint package), Wrike.com, Zoho,??íHuddle and LiquidPlanner are among the key suppliers of these project management tools. Workgroup support systems not only help people involved in a common task achieve their goals, but they also can include remote access storage systems for archiving common use data files that can be accessed, modified and retrieved by anybody in the workgroup. However, like anything else, it's how one does the prep work and sets the table that determines how effectively the tools are implemented and how valuable to the business they ultimately become. The way in which companies roll out, train and implement their tool-of-choice can make or break its adoption. In this slide show, LiquidPlanner offers advice based on real-world experience with customers about setting up the right environment for an effective collaboration environment.

Chris Preimesberger was named Editor-in-Chief of Features & Analysis at eWEEK in November 2011. Previously he served eWEEK as Senior Writer, covering a range of IT sectors that include data center systems, cloud computing, storage, virtualization, green IT, e-discovery and IT governance. His blog, Storage Station, is considered a go-to information source. Chris won a national Folio Award for magazine writing in November 2011 for a cover story on Salesforce.com and CEO-founder Marc Benioff, and he has served as a judge for the SIIA Codie Awards since 2005. In previous IT journalism, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. His diverse resume also includes: sportswriter for the Los Angeles Daily News, covering NCAA and NBA basketball, television critic for the Palo Alto Times Tribune, and Sports Information Director at Stanford University. He has served as a correspondent for The Associated Press, covering Stanford and NCAA tournament basketball, since 1983. He has covered a number of major events, including the 1984 Democratic National Convention, a Presidential press conference at the White House in 1993, the Emmy Awards (three times), two Rose Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, several NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, a Formula One Grand Prix auto race, a heavyweight boxing championship bout (Ali vs. Spinks, 1978), and the 1985 Super Bowl. A 1975 graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Chris has won more than a dozen regional and national awards for his work. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four children and reside in Redwood City, Calif.Follow on Twitter: editingwhiz